Thursday, June 28, 2007

Eco-Maniacs Take Over Giants Stadium




Now I’ve spent a bit of time at Giants Stadium in my life, and I’d be willing to bet that no one would ever accuse the folks who run the place of being eco-maniacs. But it turns out that the organizers of Live Earth have made some real strides in turning that event into the most sustainably produced event in the venues history. For starters they’ll be instating a triple-stream system which combines waste, compost and recycling with the goal of more than doubling the rate of waste that avoids landfills from the tens of thousands of concert-goers who’ll be rockin’ it out the day of the show. To help reduce the amount of waste generated there will be separate recycling and composting bins placed strategically throughout the venue to encourage even your music obsessed, but environmentally clueless 17 year-old nephew to be environmentally conscious with his trash. And lest you suspect that every bin will wind up as a receptacle for trash, they’ve lined up more than 800 volunteers to help educate and direct people to place the trash in their hand into the correct bins on the day of the event. They’ll even be using compostable Bioware provided by Aramark which will be used for all food and beverage services, with any signage present made from bio-material that will eventually be composted or reused as well. As Josh Stempel, director of sponsorship greening for Live Earth put it, “Live Earth is all about making little changes to create a huge impact,”


Now granted they’ve been working to plan the greening effort at Giants Stadium for about 12 weeks, talking with everyone from the site’s operators to promoters and even the caterers. But the result should be well worth the effort, and provide a significant educational experience to everyone there far and beyond the obvious message of the climate crisis itself. I mean how many people even know that Aramark produces Bioware? Of course they’ll also be looking to optimize lighting to reduce energy consumption and exchange inefficient bulbs for efficient ones like most earthlings are pretty much aware they should… But backstage they’ll be serving water from large coolers to reduce the amount of plastic bottles, and in the bathrooms they’ve ensured that recycled towels, toilet paper, biodegradable soaps and earth-friendly cleaning products will all be used en masse. Even the port-a-potties will have biodegradable detergents! I guess the one question left to ask is how we can ensure that this becomes the norm at Giants Stadium and other venues across the world, because that’s what sustainability is all about. Making everyday choices that may start out unique enough to wind up on Treehugger, but end up being culturally sustainable themselves. via:: press release


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